Unleashed

by D. R. Johnson

  Kurt dropped the soldier and held a hand toward Sora as he tried to step forward. Before the crew could move, Kurt shot several bullets through the soldier’s helmet. Selas didn’t change his facial expression, but now, his muscles tensed along with Sora’s. Nait’s and Naos’s jaws dropped.

  “You said that you’d let him live,” Sora said, swallowing and attempting to maintain a calm composure.

  “He would have called re-enforcements and we would’ve lost our ships,” Kurt said, looking to Jaskia and heading to the door on the right. “You hired me, so I’m with you.”

  “Jask,” Nait said, gazing at her with innocent, wide eyes.

  “Your sister’s waiting for us,” Jaskia said, lowering her voice to a slightly more compassionate tone. She nodded at Nait and Naos. “Come on.”

  Naos and Nait exchanged looks with Sora and Selas, but Naos’ focus drifted to the door that would lead to his old friend. He nodded and headed in that direction, while Nait sighed and walked alongside Jaskia. Kurt hit the panel next to the door and watched it open before he disappeared into it.

  Naos glanced back at Sora and Selas, pausing in the doorway. “G-Good luck. See you…see you back here with Fi and Scout.”

  As the group departed, Selas approached the door on the left. It swung open and revealed a dark, empty corridor. He heard the hums of computers and buzzing of lights but nothing else. He allowed himself to close his eyes again, envisioning Fi’s small black eyes and the trance that came with them. Whatever Anziar or Bettina had planned, he wanted to find comfort in those intricate eyes.

  “Come on,” Sora said, tapping his shoulder and stepping into the corridor. “Let’s go get her.”

  10

  Sora ran through the corridor, pausing every several seconds to make sure no soldiers approached from the intersecting hallways. He listened for any echoing boots or any distant rifle shots. Nothing yet. The narrow, green corridor seemed endless as they passed cell after cell. The setting became more eerie after he noticed that none of these cells held any prisoners. Sora and Selas charged down a long corridor alone.

  Nothing matched the royal army’s usual tactics. As he came to another stop and noticed another empty corridor, he briefly looked down to examine his rifle. He needed to be ready for the inevitable ambush. The sleek, black assault rifle looked more advanced than his first, but Sora just needed it to shoot lasers. He checked the buttons above the trigger, ensuring that he didn’t set it to stun.

  “We have to be getting close. This cell is BR178,” Selas said, gesturing to the closest door on their left. “Judging by what the soldier said, at least.”

  The soldier could’ve led them into this trap. They didn’t have the chance to find out anything different, thanks to Kurt. Sora understood Jaskia’s position, but he didn’t agree with it. Adding Kurt added another risk that the crew didn’t have the ability to handle if things went bad.

  Also, if they could spare any life, they should. Operating otherwise dropped them to Bettina’s level.

  “They have to know that we’re here,” Sora said, sprinting again. Selas kept his pace. “A hangar malfunction won’t go unnoticed. If they’re not planning a surprise attack, then Fi’s cell will be heavily guarded.”

  “Then I’ll make quick work of them,” Selas said, hardening his face and rubbing his temples. “As will she.”

  Sora frowned. The closer they got to Fi, the more unsettled Selas became. The trend started when they left Graig and it only got worse, so he worried for what would happen when Selas saw her again.

  They crossed another intersection and Sora spotted the end of the hall. Finally, a sign of progress.

  Selas reached the wide set of double doors and halted, putting his hand on the wall. He took a deep breath and stared at the floor, while Sora approached the console that would open the doors. Sora’s hand hovered over it, but first, he took another look at Selas. Selas glanced at him and nodded, gesturing to the door.

  While he pressed down on the console, Selas stood upright. The doors parted and opened, revealing a small, circular room. First, Sora spotted the door at the other end of the room that would lead to the other cells, but then, he noticed the woman in front of the door. Fi knelt, pressing her sword to the floor.

  “Fi!” Selas said, shoving his modified rifle into its holster and rushing into the room. Sora stepped in afterward, trying to identify any other presence. No one except the three crew members occupied the room. “What have they done to you? Are you alright?”

  He gulped. He spent so much time comforting Selas, but now, he didn’t feel that optimism.

  “You’ve made a mistake, Selas,” Fi said, locking eyes with him as he reached her side and tried to pull her up. Sora saw no emotion in her stare. “I’m sorry.”

  “Fi, we must get you o—”

  Fi grabbed her sword and swiped at Selas, sending a clean cut down his right forearm. He cried out and leapt backward, giving Sora a mixed look of realization and horror. Fi crouched and launched herself off the ground, preparing to bring her sword down on Selas. Selas yanked the spear off his back and blocked Fi’s attack, while she landed on both feet.

  Sora aimed his rifle but froze before his finger reached the trigger. He couldn’t shoot Fi.

  “Fi, whatever the Queen has done to you, we can undo it,” Selas said, backing away and holding his spear defensively. His voice trembled. “This isn’t you. You’re centered and you stay that way. I need you to stay that way.”

  Fi hesitated but kept her sword pointed at Selas. “Only Queen Bettina can redeem me. Only by her service.”

  Sora blinked. Her voice even sounded different. Fi always kept her tone controlled, but now, she sounded bleak and held no emotion whatsoever. “You don’t need redemption, Fi. You’ve done nothing wrong.”

  “You don’t know me, Sora,” Fi said, not bothering to look at him. She swung at Selas, but again, he blocked it. “Neither of you know what I’ve done or the people I’ve failed. I must redeem myself, and her Majesty is the only way.”

  “If you seek redemption, you won’t find it in Queen Bettina,” Selas said, scurrying backward again. His breaths grew labored. “You know how her and Anziar work. This is what they want and you’re playing into their hands.”

  Fi stopped and Sora took a step closer, glancing at a camera that sat on the ceiling on the opposite side of the room. He didn’t know how to handle this or what Bettina wanted, but he needed to do something. Sora couldn’t lose either of them.

  “If I am, then so be it,” Fi said, breaking her momentary pause and sprinting toward Selas. As she reached him, she ducked and slashed his shin. “This is my fate.”

  Selas cried out again, thrusting his spear toward Fi and shoving her backward as he nicked her shoulder. Selas stumbled closer to the wall and pulled the spear close to his chest. “I don’t want to do this, Fi. I can’t fight you.”

  “I must fight you, Selas. I must obtain justice,” Fi said, regaining her offensive stance. For the first time, Sora heard her voice crack. “I must kill you.”

  Selas clenched his teeth and grabbed his head, pressing into the wall. As Fi drew closer, Selas roared and dug his nails into his head.

  Sora had to act. He aimed his rifle near Fi’s feet and fired three quick shots. As he’d anticipated, none hit, but Fi spun around and faced him. Sora grimaced and pointed his rifle at her, while in the background, Selas attempted to focus.

  “I don’t know what justice you’re looking for, but if murder gets that, then don’t kill Selas,” Sora said, staring at Fi’s void black eyes. He stepped forward and felt his rifle shake in his hands. “Kill me.”

  Jaskia rounded another corner, lagging behind Nait. By the time she made it into the next hall, Kurt already put a bullet into each of the two soldiers standing guard. The design of their armor protected against lasers, not bullets, which Jaskia found too ironic. Dismissing ‘outdated’ types of ammo gave way to vulnerability, Bettina.

  The crew may
hate her for hiring Kurt, but this effectiveness proved Jaskia’s argument and quickened the path to Scout. Not to mention, she could barely keep up with Nait and Naos, so Kurt made up for what recovery she had left. Still, she wouldn’t have stayed on the Killer during this operation.

  “You good?” Nait said, glancing back.

  “Stop asking. I’m fine,” Jaskia said, limping to his side. She noticed another worried look from Naos, who walked a few feet ahead but kept a healthy distance from Kurt.

  “The soldier lied about other prisoners,” Kurt said, scoffing at the cells on their right and left. “Your friend must be important. This is the end of block B, so her cell should be next.”

  Kurt reached the door and didn’t give anyone another look. Jaskia lifted her pistol and looked at Naos again, who didn’t focus on anything except the door between him and Scout. He straightened his back and clung to his own pistol. Desperate to get to his girlfriend, as always.

  Jaskia glanced at Nait, who also wrapped his hands around his pistol and stared at the door. She could understand Naos’ feelings, but she didn’t act as needy about it.

  The door ascended and a squad of six soldiers stood on the other side. They aimed their rifles at the group, but a gray-haired man without a helmet stood in front of the soldiers and motioned for them to hold their fire. He pointed his own rifle at Naos, while Kurt aimed his pistol back at the royal army.

  Before Jaskia could act on instinct and fire, Nait jumped in front of her. She groaned.

  “You don’t know this guy like we do,” Nait whispered, looking over his shoulder. “Captain Nelson’s a douche, but a dangerous douche.”

  Enlightening.

  “Last time I saw you, you barely escaped execution,” Nelson said, smirking at Naos. “Think you can get lucky twice, Redgrave?”

  “I’m not leaving without Scout,” Naos said, gritting his teeth and pointing his pistol at Nelson. He looked like he wanted to tremble but withheld the reaction. “You’ve seen how this goes, so, uh, you think you can get lucky twice?”

  Awkward, but not terrible. Scout rubbed off on him.

  “I try to be a giving guy, but you make it too hard,” Nelson said, growling and pressing the trigger.

  Before the lasers went off, Jaskia’s back slammed into the metal floor. She saw a flurry of red and blue lasers fly in the corridor above, along with the barely visible bullets, but something obstructed most of her vision. She tried to sit up, but the form on top of her pressed her down again.

  “Stay down, Jask,” Nait said, laying on top of her but firing into the background. She saw Naos and Kurt pressed against opposite walls. “You’re not fast enough for this.”

  Jaskia scowled. Nait knew her better than this, but he kept falling into protector mode. That only made both of them more vulnerable and it held her back.

  She lifted her head again, seeing a soldier charge toward Nait. She lifted her pistol and fired several quick shots, piercing his armor. A bullet from Kurt finished him off before he reached the pair. Jaskia noticed Nelson sink deeper into the background, while Naos took out another soldier.

  “Get off,” Jaskia said, glaring at Nait and pushing his chest. “We’re completely exposed.”

  “But if they get a shot off on you—”

  “They won’t,” Jaskia said, putting all of her strength into her shove. Nait fell to the side and Jaskia grabbed the wall, pulling herself up with one hand and firing her pistol with the other. A red laser hit her shoulder-blade, but she tried to ignore the burn. Nait scrambled off the ground and re-joined the firefight.

  As Jaskia re-gained her footing, Kurt shot the final soldier. Nelson darted to the end of the next corridor and disappeared, firing a few stray shots at the group.

  “Cowards are predictable,” Kurt said, ignoring the defeated soldier and stepping into the corridor, before looking at the cells.

  “Okay, which one is Scout’s?” Naos said, hurrying into the hall and looking at the numbers.

  “This is a trap,” Kurt said, glancing at Jaskia. “A lot of soldiers for one girl? Yeah, but too little response for a government prison break-in.”

  “If it gets us to Scout,” Jaskia said, stepping through the corridor and glancing at the cell numbers. Nait walked beside her. “Let’s get your sister back.”

  “Over here!” Naos said, pointing at a cell to his left. Immediately, he started pressing buttons on the door’s console. “Come on, come on…”

  Nait sprinted for the door, momentarily forgetting about protector mode. He looked down at the console and slammed his fist against the tall, green door. “Hang on, Scout! We’re getting you out of there!”

  Kurt paused, looking at Jaskia again. She limped to his side and nodded toward the door. She found it ironic that she found herself on the same thought process as the mercenary who shot her, rather than the guys she knew all her life. Then again, Kurt and Jaskia both experienced a side of the Nebula that Naos and even Nait, for all his good qualities, hadn’t.

  Kurt aimed his pistol at the bottom of the door and fired. Naos and Nait both stopped and looked at him with a mixture of surprise and confusion, but Jaskia focused on his pistol. He seemed to aim it at a particular point on the door. He shifted to the left and fired at another point below the door.

  Instantly, the door lifted.

  No one wasted any time by questioning Kurt’s methods. The four charged inside the cell, but as soon as Jaskia realized what occupied the cell, her chest felt like it dropped into her stomach. She felt like a bullet ripped her stomach open again, but this time, left a much deeper wound.

  Scout sat in a chair in the middle of the room with open eyes and a pale body. Jaskia wanted to see her torso contract as she breathed in and out, but saw nothing. Scout didn’t take any air in and she didn’t push anything back out. She wore the brown shirt and blue pants that she had worn on Graig, but they looked ripped and filthy.

  “No, no, no,” Naos said, running forward and gently grabbing Scout’s wrist. He trembled and his wide eyes only stared at her face. “Come on, Scout, wake up…don’t do this…”

  Jaskia looked at Nait, who’s face turned almost as pale as Scout’s. He walked to the other side of her body, looking like he had to pull his weight with every step. “D-Does…”

  Jaskia frowned as she heard the crack in his voice. Kurt didn’t look sympathetic, but he still shook his head at Jaskia. They both knew the answer.

  “…sh-sh-she…”

  Sobs overpowered Nait’s words.

  “No p-pulse,” Naos said, releasing Scout’s wrist. Red encompassed his eyes and he lifted her arm to reveal a blackened back side of her body. “Looks like th-they electrocuted…just like they tried with m-me…”

  Jaskia closed her eyes, allowing the sting of her tears. She hadn’t cried in a long time.

  “Wait,” Kurt said, turning his ear to the corridor. “More are coming and the clock’s ticking. We only have roughly 25 minutes.”

  Seconds later, the echo of marching sounded. Greater numbers than before.

  “Nait, he-help me get her body,” Naos said, sniffing and exhaling. They started to pull Scout out of the chair.

  “No,” Kurt said, approaching the pair and shaking his head again. “There’s a real army coming and that will only weigh us down.”

  “That is a human being whose name is Scout,” Naos said, clearing his throat and putting more emphasis into his voice. He glared at Kurt. “She’s coming with us.”

  The echo drew closer. Jaskia looked from the cell to the hall, ensuring that no one arrived yet. She glanced back at the corpse of her slain friend. Jaskia wanted to give her a proper burial. Scout deserved it and Jaskia owed that much to her.

  “Your friends won’t survive if they cart this baggage around,” Kurt said, grunting and looking toward Jaskia. “If everyone wants to live and make it out before the hangar doors re-activate, everyone needs to have both hands ready to shoot.”

  Jaskia saw his point. She didn
’t want Nait or Naos to get captured or die like Scout did. Scout wouldn’t want that, either.

  “This is my sister we’re talking about!” Nait said, raising his voice as he looked from Kurt to Jaskia. “Tell him, Jask.”

  Jaskia closed her eyes again, focusing on the echo. Now, instead of an echo, she heard actual boots. They marched through the next hall, ready to shoot or capture all of them. Jaskia wanted to get Scout out of here, but she also wanted everyone to live. Scout would say the same.

  Sentiment won’t win anything.

  “Leave her,” Jaskia said, opening her eyes and releasing a tear. “Kurt’s right.”

  “You can’t be seri—” Naos started, while Nait’s eyes went wide and his lips trembled. His face paled even more.

  “Enough,” Kurt said, grabbing both by their collars and tossing them through the doorway. Jaskia scrambled to the corridor.

  Nelson and a larger squadron of soldiers rounded the opposite corner, aiming their rifles at the three teenagers. Jaskia looked down at Nait and Naos, who pulled themselves off the floor with looks of anger and shock. Before another argument could erupt, gunfire took their attention.

  Kurt charged out of the cell and all four of them ran in the direction that they came, firing shots back at the pursuing soldiers. Jaskia kept her focus on the path in front of them, letting the tears freely trickle down her cheek.

  Somehow, she would honor Scout. Somehow, Jaskia would avenge all this.

  11

  “She’s gone. You have no hope.”

  Selas’ head throbbed. A mental attack from Anziar followed every physical attack that Fi made. He didn’t feel the being inside him as he once had, but Anziar wanted to shove himself back into Selas’ mind. His nightmare now made even more sense. Anziar hadn’t lied, but instead, he pounced on the opportunity Fi created.

  Selas pressed on his temples and pulled himself off the wall. He couldn’t let his own problems distract him from Fi and the current situation. He let that happen on Wantim, but he’d grown stronger since then. Fi made him stronger.